The invention relates to an apparatus for, and a method of, feeding discrete objects one by one. This is a particular problem when the objects are of different shapes and sizes, as may occur for instance in the gemstone industry, and where the objects are small, for instance of a sieve (pass) size of 10 mm, 5 mm or less (a minimum sieve size possibly being 0.5 mm). Although it must be expected with all apparatus that an occasional double feed occurs, frequent double feeds are very disturbing and should be avoided. A further problem in dealing specifically with gemstones is that gemstones are very hard and cause considerable abrasion if they are jostled or slid over other surfaces, so that it is desirable to provide an apparatus that involves as little jostling or sliding movement of the gemstones as possible.